


He's Thunderstorms

by Headphone_Love



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Caught in a Storm, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Thunderstorms, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 07:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15769293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headphone_Love/pseuds/Headphone_Love
Summary: Arguing over 80s movies, oblivious nerds, and some (not so) platonic cuddling.





	He's Thunderstorms

“For the last time, we’re not watching ‘The Breakfast Club’, Lance!”

“Why not? It’s a classic!” Lance insisted, holding the DVD out for Keith to feast his eyes upon. “Not only is it one of the best 80s movies in existence, but it deals with real issues in teen lives.”

Keith, unconvinced, snorted from his position on Lance’s bed. He should have known better than to let Lance of all people pick the movies for tonight. “It’s a movie about teenagers that are stuck in detention and do stupid crap. Wow, so inspiring. Who would have thought you would pick a movie about the place we despise going to.”

Lance pouted, moving to plop on the bed and motioning for Keith to look at his DVD collection. “Fine, you go and pick one, Mr. Movie snob.”

Taking him up on the offer, Keith pushed himself off the bed while Lance cuddled the case for his choice movie. “It’s okay, Molly. Not everyone can be as appreciative of you as I am.”

Rolling his eyes at his dramatic roommate, Keith began to look through the rather large collection. “Why do you own all of these anyway? Netflix is a thing, you know.”

Lance placed his movie down, looking insulted at the comparison. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, DVDs are my childhood and I refuse to get rid of them. Some of them were my mom and dad’s from when they were our age.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Keith muttered as he turned his head and sneezed into his sleeve. “Do you ever clean these things?”

“Stop complaining and pick a movie already. I’m not getting any younger.”

“You sure act like it,” Keith muttered, but he actually did begin to try and make a decision. He had to admit, Lance did have quite the collection. They were also organized in such a non-Lance way that Keith nearly complimented him out loud. His fingertips brushed against the cases, inwardly agreeing with Lance that there was something oddly satisfying about seeing them all in physical form. Was it the most convenient method of carrying movies?

No.

But it took dedication and Keith could respect that.

“How about this one?”

Lance squinted, immediately holding his arms up in the form of an ‘X’. “We are _not_ watching ‘The Shining’. I refuse.”

“You were all about the classics with your weird high school movie. Why not watch this?”

As if it were obvious, Lance crossed his arms. “Because it’s a major snoozefest? Like super boring.”

“Now _that_ is blasphemous and you should feel ashamed.”

As the two began to bicker again, the TV that served as background noise suddenly went silent. Neither took notice until a banner appeared at the top of it, scrolling across as the eerie sound of an alert rang out and scared the crap out of both students.

“What the…” Lance mumbled, blinking as he stared at it in confusion. “What’s that?”

Keith frowned. “You’ve never heard of the emergency alert system?” he asked with his eyes glued to the television, Lance shuddering at the noise it was making.

“No...we don’t really have those back where I’m from…” Lance mumbled honestly, looking alarmed. “We usually have sirens that go off rather than play on television. This is like, horror movie levels of scary. How are you so calm?”

He had nearly forgotten that Lance hadn’t grown up in the states like he had. They might both be at the same boarding school, but that didn’t mean that their lives before it had been the same.

As the switched to a high pitched whistle, Lance grew more and more anxious, backing away from the television and biting his lower lip. “Make that stop, mullet!”

“Can’t really do that,” Keith replied, suddenly a lot more aware of the pounding rain outside their window. He swallowed hard, shifting closer to the TV to listen. It definitely wasn’t a monthly test considering those happened when Keith and Lance were far past asleep. This had to be a real warning and one that would directly involve their area.

_‘The national service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the following counties—”_

As the voice rattled off counties before mentioning what cities they included, Lance scurried away from the window after a lightning flash. He nearly crashed into Keith, laughing nervously when said teen shot him a look.

Turning his attention back to the television, Keith watched intently.

_‘At 9:39 pm, national weather service meteorologists detected a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds and severe floods across all previously mentioned counties.’_

Keith frowned deeply, standing up. Lance remained on the floor, watching as he began walking around the room to secure it. He closed the blinds, locked their door, and began to collect certain things that they might need.

Flashlight, radio, phones, portable charger, water, snacks….

It might have seemed a bit extreme, but if floods were possible, there was no saying how long they would be stuck in the dorms. They were on the fourth floor—something they both had hated at first—so he was sure they wouldn’t face any water coming to them anytime soon. What did make him a little nervous was the fact that even with their housemate living on their floor, mostly everyone else had gone home for the weekend. Keith nearly had as well but decided against it when Lance had brought up the whole movie night suggestion. A part of him was glad he had agreed: especially when he turned to see Lance staring at him with wide, glassy eyes.

“Keith, your silence is scaring me, my man.”

Keith looked away, not sure why seeing Lance so worked up irritated him so badly. “Shut up and look for some batteries.”

“Batteries?” Lance repeated in such a small voice that Keith regretted his previous tone. “Why do we need—”

Lance shrieked and nearly fell over when the power suddenly went out, Keith hanging his head and sighing.

“That’s why.”

Another flash from the window could be seen despite the closed curtains, Lance stumbling back towards Keith’s bed. He would have gone to his own had it not been the on close to the window.

“That is a _no_ from me!” Lance shrieked as he crawled beneath Keith’s blanket. “Nuh uh, nope, Lance doesn’t do storms, or thunder, or anything that involves possible a pissed off mother nature.”

“You’re telling me that Cuba of all places didn’t experience storms?”

“My dad has people who make sure we get out before things get serious,” Lance defended. “Plus, there are storm shelters over there, while here all we have is this building that leaks during normal storms, let alone an _emergency_ one!”

“Would you relax?” Keith said as he moved toward him, tugging his blanket in an attempt to reclaim it. “It’s just a thunderstorm. The alerts are only to warn people who are lower on the ground so they can evacuate and avoid dangerous situations,” he reasoned.

Lance didn’t budge, hiding his face in his makeshift cocoon and refusing to relinquish Keith’s blanket.

“Lance, stop being such a child.”

“I’m not a child, you’re a child,” the teen grumbled.

Keith continued to pull, his roommate seeming to lose his grip on the blanket after a particularly rough one. This sent both of them tumbling onto the floor, Lance eating carpet and Keith falling onto his back.

“God damnit, Lance,” Keith said as he pushed himself up. “Why do you have to mess around even no—”

Keith froze.

“Are you _crying_?”

The sniffle from his roommate was enough to make Keith feel like the biggest asshole in the world.

Lance was hugging his knees to his chest, face buried in them as he scoffed. “No. Stupid.”

Keith didn’t respond, a bit of guilt swirling in his chest at the other’s distress. Lance was usually dramatic, loud, and fearless about pretty much everything. Sure, it was obnoxious from time to time and often resulted in both of them getting into some fairly weird situations, but Keith would much rather see that Lance than the one shaking on their floor.

The older of the two stood, grabbing the blanket and their phones. He shoved the phones into his pocket and reached down to take hold of Lance’s insanely cold hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Just let me,” Keith insisted, voice a lot quieter than earlier. Lance started up at him with another sniff, moving to his feet shakily and following the elder toward the closet. When Keith opened it up and stepped inside, Lance shot him a look of disbelief.

“I spent the first 14 years of my life trying to get out of there and now you want me to go back?”

Of course, Lance had to make a joke even when he was apparently scared out of his wits.

Without a response, he pulled Lance into the closet and shut the door. After moving some clothes out of the way, he sat on the floor, patting the area beside him so Lance would take the hint. Surprisingly, Lance didn’t complain about doing so, his shoulder pressing against Keith’s in the confined space.

Once they were both comfortable, Keith wrapped the blanket around them both. Lance blinked at the sudden warmth but allowed his eyes to close as he embraced it.

“Never took you as the type to be afraid of lightning.”

“I’m not,” Lance said with a small tremor to his voice. “That alert thing is what really freaked me out. I thought the beach sirens were freaky but you guys have that beat.”

Keith nodded, having to agree with that. He was usually always with Shiro during serious storms or weird weather because of how frantic the elder got.

As the minutes passed and Lance continued to tremble, Keith decided that perhaps a distraction was in order.

“The Shining isn’t a boring movie. You just don’t get it.”

Lance looked up at him, taking a moment to process the words. “You could try to defend that snoozefest all you want, but Poltergeist was better,” he said with a nod.

Keith scrunched his nose. “How does it feel to be delusional?”

Lance cracked a smile and used the back of his hands to wipe his eyes. “I should be asking you that.”

“If we can’t agree on the best horror movie, can we both at least agree that ‘Beetlejuice’ is a masterpiece that people forget about way too often?”

With a small laugh, Lance nodded. “Oh, definitely. ‘Beetlejuice’ is one of the best movies,” he said. “But here is the final test to determine whether your movie taste it worthy.”

Keith shifted a bit closer. “I’m awful at tests.”

Shrugging, Lance fiddled with the blanket around them, feeling it brushing against his hair whenever he turned his head. “Well, this one is a no-brainer so you better get it right. Aliens or Predator?”

Keith paused, having forgotten both movies had been released in the 80s. “I’d have to go with Predator.”

Lance clicked his tongue. “So close, mullet.”

“Oh? And why would you pick Aliens?” Keith challenged. “What’s so good about it?”

“80s Sigourney Weaver? Are you joking?”

“But what about 80s Arnold?” Keith insisted with a point of his finger. “No one can say no to 80s Arnold unless they are blind or have no taste.”

Lance perked, lower lip jutting out in a way that made Keith want to laugh at how conflicted he looked. Keith found Lance’s movie addiction both unexpected yet oddly interesting. It was a side that not many people got to see considering Lance didn’t talk much about movies at all. He would talk about space and sports, but never movies.

“I forgot about my love for Arnold. I’m reevaluating my life choices, now.”

While waiting for his roommate’s answer, Keith could feel himself beginning to drift off, nearly doing so until Lance spoke again.

“I’ve come to a decision.”

Turning his head and resting his cheek against his knees, he smiled.“Yeah?”

Lance nodded confidentiality. “Both. Both are good”

Unable to stop himself, Keith let out a drowsy chuckle. “Not really coming to a decision if you pick both the options, Lance.”

Sticking his tongue out, Lance paused to yawn into his hand, body trembling with the small gesture. Keith watched with an odd fascination, only looking away when Lance opened his eyes again to stare at him. Without warning, Lance shifted to rest his head on his shoulder.

“I’m stealing this for a bit,” he said softly, sounding as tired as Keith felt.

Swallowing hard, Keith nodded. “Yeah. Alright.”

They sat in silence for nearly half an hour—Keith would know, he checked his phone nearly every minute for that hour—until Lance nuzzled his cheek into his shoulder and made him tense.

“You’re heart’s beating pretty fast there, mullet,” Lance said in a sing-song tone. “It’s okay, I tend to have that effect on people.”

“Shut up before I leave this closet right now.”

Lance lazily lifted his head so his chin rested on Keith’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t.”

Not one to refuse a challenge, Keith let go of the blanket and stood. He only stopped when he felt both of Lance’s hands grip his arm tightly, eyes wide.

“If you leave me I swear I’ll never watch the Shining with you ever!”

Keith paused, looking down at the teen who was still covered by the rather large blanket. Lance was grimacing, clearing his throat and looking away to avoid his stare.

“You can’t take that back.”

Huffing, Lance pulled at his arm again. “It only stands if you fulfill your part of the agreement.”

With that, Keith grinned and pulled the other to his feet. He could tell that Lance was confused by the small amount of resistance he gave, only giving up when Keith left him to stand by his bed. Keith then walked over to Lance’s bed, grabbing his blanket and a few pillows to use.

“What are you…?”

“Just trust me.”

Biting his lip, Lance motioned for Keith to continue with a wave of his hand.

Keith brought all of Lance’s pillows to his own bed, setting them up in a similar style before adding the blanket. Considering his own was still wrapped around Lance, he figured he would need it. Approving of his work, Keith slid under the blanket, leaving it open for Lance. Seeming to take the hint, Lance slowly moved to lower himself onto the mattress, sitting close to the edge awkwardly.

“You don’t have to do this,” Lance mumbled with a tint on his cheeks. “I know how you are about personal space and all that so…”

“Lance?”

The younger teen paused. “Yeah?”

“It really is amazing how stupid you are about things other than movies,” Keith said, reaching out to pull Lance beside him. He draped the blanket over them both, not missing how his roommate relaxed against him. For a moment he could have sworn that his heart had picked up again, only to realize that it wasn’t _his_ , but Lance’s.

“Who’s the one with the fast heartbeat now?”

Lance flicked his wrist to slap the other’s chest, allowing it to linger there in his exhaustion. “Just go to sleep, mullet.”

Keith, feeling the tiredness wash over him, decided that he would listen just this once.

Besides, he could tease Lance all about his embarrassment tomorrow...

 

...over some breakfast and a movie.


End file.
